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You know what's interesting about love?
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Love is a driving force, isn't it?
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I mean, think about
what people do who love.
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Love will drive people to do
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all manner of things.
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It will drive people to
lay down their lives.
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Right?
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Won't people give
their lives if they love?
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They will.
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We as Christians are supposed
to love the brethren
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and be willing to lay down our life.
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Jesus loved and He laid down His life.
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Love is an incredibly strong force.
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Let me say this.
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Love is strong.
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I think the thing that comes to my mind
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when I think of love
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and I think of love for the lost
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is the Apostle Paul.
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Somebody read the first three verses
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of Romans 9.
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Somebody just read that.
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"I am speaking the truth in Christ.
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I am not lying.
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My conscience bears me witness
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in the Holy Spirit that
I have great sorrow
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and unceasing anguish in my heart.
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For I could wish that I
myself were accursed
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and cut off from Christ
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for the sake of my brothers,
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my kinsmen according to the flesh."
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Do you know what love does?
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It will cause you to bear
about in your own heart
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unceasing anguish. Did you hear that?
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Read it again, brother.
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"...that I have great sorrow
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and unceasing anguish in my heart."
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Great sorrow. Unceasing anguish.
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You know why somebody will
bear that in their heart?
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Because they love.
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Okay, here's the thing.
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Keep reading after that, brother.
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"They are Israelites,
and to them belong..."
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Tim: No, right after the part
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that talks about unceasing anguish.
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"For I could wish that I
myself were accursed..."
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Tim: Okay, what does accursed mean?
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I could wish myself accursed.
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Under the curse of God.
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And cut off from Christ.
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For what?
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"For the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen."
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For the sake of my brothers.
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I could wish myself...
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okay, you know what that does?
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How can that be helpful to us
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as soul winners?
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That statement right there.
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Does that help you at all?
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Does that help you
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want to go down the street here
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and make sure the East
side folks don't perish?
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Because you hear the
Apostle Paul saying that?
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You know what that does for me?
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You know what I find is very helpful
-
when I read biography?
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Which, by the way, that's just
kind of a biographical statement
-
that Paul gives to us right there.
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You know when I read
about a Hudson Taylor,
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or I read about a George Mueller,
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or a Carey, or a Judson,
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or a Spurgeon,
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do you know what I'm struck with?
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I'm struck with men and women
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who endured things and did things
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that aside from the grace of God
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there's no explanation for.
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What does James tell us about Elijah?
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What does he tell us about Elijah?
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(from the room)
He's a man with a nature like ours.
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He's a man with a nature like ours.
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You know what's interesting?
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Why do you think he tells us that?
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What did Elijah do?
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(unintelligible)
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He prayed and it didn't rain,
and he prayed again, and it did rain.
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Why do you think he would come along
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and tell us he's just like us?
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Why would James tell us that?
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Because we don't think that, right?
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When we see Elijah and Elisha
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and these guys from the Scripture,
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we think they're super-human.
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When we read about the Apostle Paul,
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we look at the guy and we think
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he's not like us.
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But you know what?
They're made of the same stuff.
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These are God's people
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saved by the blood of Christ
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with all the weaknesses
and all the frailties
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of humankind just like us.
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And do you know what the biography does?
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When you read them, you realize,
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wow, somebody made of the same stuff I am
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and look what they did.
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And what it does for me;
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how it encourages me
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is it makes me realize,
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through Christ I can do
all things through Him
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Who strengthens me.
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I can do these things.
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James is telling us this to have us know
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that if we'll pray like Elijah did,
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nothing is impossible with God.
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It's all possible through Him.
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And what happens is when I read
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about Paul's burden,
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it makes me realize this -
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it makes me realize a burden like that
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is possible in a person made
of the same stuff I'm made of.
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Listen, isn't there something
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about Paul's burden when he says
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that he would be cut off from Christ
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that makes you kind of
sit up and take notice?
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(incomplete thought)
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Listen, how many of you have read
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a man with such great sorrow
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over the lostness of his kinsmen
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that he wishes himself accursed
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and cut off from Christ?
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He could wish himself damned.
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By the way,
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if that's not an expression
of Christ's heart -
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I could wish myself under the wrath of God
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for the sake of My brethren.
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And He did it.
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But you know what?
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If we heard that that was Jesus
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in Romans 9, we'd say,
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okay, well, He is super-human.
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We could understand that.
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He was doing things and
thinking things all the time
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that go above us.
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But when it's Paul,
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and we know he's human,
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we know he's a sinner;
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we know he's saved,
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and we see in him -
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when I read that,
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it suddenly makes me ask myself
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that question.
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Do I ever feel that?
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Now the closest I've felt that
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and I don't even know
how to put it in words
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would be for my children.
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But what that shows me
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is that when the Spirit of God
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takes over a sinner and indwells,
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and begins to work His fruit
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in the life of a believer,
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the chief aspect of that fruit is love.
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And what Paul shows me
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is that a sinner saved by grace
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can love the lost that much
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through the operations
of the Spirit of God.
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Doesn't it prove that to us?
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That that is within the
realm of possibility?
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Why is that important?
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Why would that be important for you and I
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to realize that?
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Because I'll tell you this,
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one of the things that James says
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is that you don't have
because you don't ask.
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And you don't ask for things
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that you don't think are possible.
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Listen, we don't ask.
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We don't seek.
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We don't beseech God.
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We don't fast for;
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we don't lay hold of the Lord for things
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that we think are impossible to have.
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But when I look and I see Paul
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with that mindset,
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you know what?
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That puts it within
the realm of possibility.
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That if I don't have anything in my life,
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in my thought life,
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in my heart, in my soul,
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in my longing for the lost -
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I mean, are there any
of you that look at that
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and you're just like I
can't even fathom that?
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I can't even fathom the idea of saying
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that I'd be willing to not be a Christian
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and perish for the sake of somebody else.
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I mean, to even think that way;
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to even love that way.
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Brethren, let me ask you this.
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What do you think
this city might look like
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if we just had 20 people with that heart?
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Or even one?
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Think about the cities that Paul
walked into with that heart.
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He didn't leave them the same.
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He goes into Thessalonica.
He goes into Philippi.
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He goes into Corinth.
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And they weren't left the same.
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Can you imagine 20 people let loose
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that had a heart that
somehow resembled that?
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Let me tell you this,
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that kind of burden takes you,
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you know what you can't do?
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You can't spend your life
doing nothing for sinners.
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If you're willing to be
cut off and accursed,
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you know what you'll do?
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You'll go out your front door.
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It's like I heard John
MacArthur talk one time
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about the guy that said how
much he loved his fiance
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and how much he loved her
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and he'd swim the English channel,
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but I can't come over
tonight because it's raining.
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That's just a silly little
thing that he tells,
-
but isn't there a reality?
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We can surmise what great things we'll do.
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It's amazing the young people
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that will say they want to go
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to the foreign mission field.
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Why?
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Well, sometimes it's a romantic thing.
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But how many is it
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that like William Carey,
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he would stare at those maps
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and he would think of
the multitudes of people.
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How many of those missionaries
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could hear the cry of the heathen
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and it just moved their hearts?
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You've heard Paul Washer talking about
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laying awake at night for the nations.
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His heart just aches. It's rent.
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Listen, young people
will say all the time,
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well, I think I ought to go
over to Papua, New Guinea.
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I've had people from our church -
young guys - tell me that.
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I think I need to go over here.
I think I need to go to Laredo.
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I think I need to go and do this.
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And yet, what?
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I don't see these guys
out combing the streets.
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Why?
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Are you telling me you're driven by a love
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that anywhere near resembles this?
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Brethren, burdened.
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If we're going to be soul winners,
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we've got to have burden.
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And one of the things to realize,
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look, these burdens for soul like this,
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they're not natural.
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They're Spirit of God wrought.
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That's His fruit: love.
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Do you think there's anything but love
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behind a statement like
that of the apostles?
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But what it makes us realize
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is it's within the realm of possibility
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in a saved sinner.
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You can't argue that.
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You cannot argue that.
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And how many have borne witness
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down through the centuries
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of having similar hearts and burdens?
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And I'll tell you what, when you see it,
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their actions bear testimony.
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Do you know something?
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The average American missionary
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stays on the foreign mission field
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one year.
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You know why?
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Why?
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Why are all these missionaries
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going to the mission field and
coming back after a year?
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Never to go back again most of them.
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Why?
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They're not really burdened.
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It was all glamour.
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It was romantic.
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Foreign countries.
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You know, you get this idea
of traveling the world.
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I see my daughter the other day
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and she's looking at the world map
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and she's saying, oh, I want to go here.
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And the kids are talking
about here and here.
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It's all romantic. It's all glorious.
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When it's a map and it's
got all different colors
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and you can imagine.
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You've seen the National Geographic.
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Hey, it's one thing to see
a National Geographic
-
about Papua, New Guinea.
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And to watch this guy
getting eaten by mosquitoes,
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while you're sitting in your living room
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in your air conditioned house.
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It's one thing to see that.
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It's another thing to be there.
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That guy was so swollen
with mosquito bites.
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Have you guys seen that?
Trevor Johnson sent that.
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Have you seen that one?
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It's a whole other thing.
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Are you willing to go in
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and lay down your life for cannibals?
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When you have a heart
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that is willing to be accursed,
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will you go endure swarms of mosquitoes?
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Or how about being stoned?
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Or beaten with rods?
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Do you realize that when Paul was stoned,
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he turned right around and marched
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back into the city
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and preached the Gospel all over?
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Brethren, if we were out
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and somebody threw a rock at us,
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oh, we'd be telling stories
for weeks in the church.
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We'd have come running home.
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We'd be warning people: Don't go back
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into that neighborhood.
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He marches right back in.
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Burden, brethren.
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Like I said, sometimes we don't have
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because we don't ask.
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I'll tell you, if you
were fervently asking
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for this kind of burden,
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even if God gave you half,
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it'd be a long way from
where most of us are now.
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You know, listen,
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I'm just speaking reality here, guys.
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A year ago, two years ago,
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do you know how many young guys
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from our church were
going down to the Alamo?
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But let me tell you this, if it was driven
-
by a heart that was
really broken for sinners,
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it wouldn't have stopped.
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If the desire is to go
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because it's a fun social event,
-
and that's where all the people
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are going to be hanging
out on Friday night,
-
well, then, you go as
long as they're going.
-
And when everybody
stops going, you stop going.
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But when it's a burden for souls,
-
you don't stop going.
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Why?
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Because just because
everybody else stops going,
-
the burden for souls doesn't quit.
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Right?
-
Brethren, soul winners are those
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(incomplete thought).
-
I can remember one time,
-
I can remember one time calling
-
John Wheeler.
-
And he's telling me -
-
it's night and it's raining
-
and Octave was visiting
-
and he's out there in the street somewhere
-
and he doesn't speak Turkish.
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Well, of course, that's what we
want to see in missionaries, right?
-
We want to see them out
there on the streets.
-
We want to see them out there in the rain.
-
We want to see them out there at night.
-
We want to see them out there even
when they don't know the language.
-
Because they have a burden for souls
and they just want to reach them.
-
I'll tell you, those are
the kind of people
-
that turn the world upside down.
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But if we don't even know
-
that it's a burden we lack,
-
and it's within the realm of possibility
-
to have a love like this,
-
and we're not asking for it,
-
then we're content to
let our hearts go cold
-
and to not run after the lost,
-
and to see people all around us
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that are perishing.
-
You have the truth
-
that God uses to save people,
-
and you're willing to walk by them
-
and let them go to hell
-
and it doesn't bother you.
-
Why? Because there's no burden.
-
There's no passion.
There's no love for them.
-
If you looked at that
guy in the grocery store
-
with a love like a mother has
-
for her daughter or her son,
-
it's a whole different thing.
-
You're willing to do all sorts of things.
-
Jesus said go.
-
He said go. Go to the nations.
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Well, this is one of the nations.
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Listen, "go" right there doesn't mean
-
you have to go overseas.
-
It just means you need to go somewhere.
-
We need to be a people on the go.
-
And what are we supposed to do?
We're supposed to make disciples.
-
But listen, again, isn't that amazing?
-
Jesus says go make disciples.
-
What? Can I make a disciple?
-
That's what He seems to imply.
-
Just like Paul says:
-
I can win some. I can save some.
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What? We can win some? We can save some?
-
We can make disciples?
-
He that wins souls is wise.
-
In other words, yep, you can do it.
-
Oh, not in your own strength.
-
Nobody ever said that.
-
Obviously in the power of God.
-
But you'll never do it in the power of God
-
unless you go.
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You'll never do it in the power of God
-
unless you're convinced you need to go.
-
You'll never go unless
you have a burden to go.
-
You have the love to go.
-
You're compelled by the
excellencies of Christ to go.
-
Brethren, these are the things we need.
-
I'll tell you, when we become flat, stale,
-
and are no longer chasing after souls,
-
it's because the excellencies
of Christ are not there.
-
It's because the burden to desire
-
to anywhere near be cut off,
-
to have this earnestness
burning within you,
-
it's not there.
-
Your love - it's grown cold.
-
It's because you're not
lifting up your eyes.
-
You're not seeing.
-
It's because we're not
convinced that we need to go.
-
We're convinced of other things.
-
We're convinced there's other
things in life more important.
-
Brethren, I'll tell you this,
-
if you've been saved for
that particular person
-
to be a people who
proclaim His excellencies,
-
then whatever else may
be true about your life,
-
that's something that you need to be doing
-
in whatever sphere you find yourself in.
-
Some of you guys are in school. So be it.
-
Proclaim His excellencies there.
-
And you can do that verbally.
-
You can do that through written form.
-
You can hand out a tract.
-
You can give them a Paul Washer DVD.
-
Give them one of these we've made up.
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Or you can talk to them.
-
I know different people
have different gifts.
-
I know there's different
ways we can go about it.
-
You can leave tracts around.
You can be like Mona Leiter.
-
Everywhere that woman goes,
-
if you're walking behind her,
-
you're seeing tracts on the sidewalk.
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Even sometimes if you're in places
-
where it's kind of like co-ed
bathrooms or something,
-
you go in there and there's one there.
-
You're walking through a restaurant
-
and there's an empty table over there.
-
You'll be in another town somewhere
-
and it's like hey, that's
one of our business cards.
-
How'd that get here?
-
Well, of course, you're with Mona.
-
Why shouldn't we all do that?
-
What one of you guys,
-
even if you're socially backwards,
-
can't take business cards
-
and just drop them like Johnny Appleseed?
-
I guess that guy was fictitious right?
-
But supposedly, folklore, this guy
-
that just went about
all of the United States.
-
He wore a pan on his head.
-
And he threw apple seeds everywhere.
-
We throw the seed.
-
Isn't the Word likened to the seed
-
in the Word of God?
-
It is.
-
Listen, if you just drop
business cards all over
-
and you got to the end of your life
-
and one soul looked up I'll Be Honest,
-
came across Paul Washer's youth sermon
-
and was converted,
-
would that not be worth it?
-
Jesus said lift up your eyes!
-
There's eternal fruit here!
-
It'd be worth it.
-
Is not one soul worth that investment?
-
And who says you'll only harvest one?
-
But if you lived your whole life
-
and only harvested one soul,
-
what a thing!
-
Could you imagine every time
you see that person in glory?
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The Lord used me to save him!